T-Mobile Goes OTT With Free Video Streaming

In the latest bid to shake up the US wireless market, T-Mobile says customers won't be charged for the data used when they stream one of more than seven popular OTT video services.

T-Mobile US Inc. revealed the plan at its "Un-Carrier X" event in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Beginning this Sunday, video streams will be free over the T-Mobile network for subscribers of HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Showtime, Sling TV, Starz, WatchESPN and more, without using up subscriber data.

T-Mobile is also supporting AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)'s DirecTV and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)'s Go90 services. T-Mobile says it will add more video streaming services soon, as it has with its free audio streaming offering, .

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The "Binge On" offering is clearly another aggressive push by T-Mobile in the US marketplace. All of the major US carriers already report that video accounts for the majority of the data traffic carried on their networks.

T-Mobile's Binge On system streams at 480 pixels, which is less than a HD stream. The quality is comparable to a DVD, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said at the event.

T-Mobile customers have to have at least the 3GB Simple Choice plan to access the new video streaming deal.

T-Mobile has also doubled the amount of data available to its Simple Choice customers. Data plans in 1GB, 3GB and 5GB buckets have been bumped up to 2GB, 6G and 10GB plans.

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading